1

Importance of Developing Critical Thinking Skills for Effective Leadership

Robert V. Abernethy

University of Charleston

ORGL 150: Introduction to Professional Development

Anthony Giaimo

February 16, 2021

 2

Importance of Developing Critical Thinking Skills for Effective Leadership

Leading people is more about harnessing the greatness and ingenuity from the people we

lead than it is about telling them what to do. General George S. Patton (n.d.) famously said:

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their

ingenuity” (BrainyQuote.com). A leader’s ability to think critically during planning, decision

making, and execution begets others to mimic the critical thinking behavior. It can and will

create a storm of innovative, proactive thinking and action that only gains strength over time. In

an article written ten years ago, General Martin E. Dempsey (2011) stated: “In addition to [the

attributes character, presence and intellect], we assert that strategic leaders must be inquisitive

and open-minded. They must be able to think critically and be capable of developing creative

solutions to complex problems” (para. 6). Many organizations have come to realize that in order

to keep pace with a fast-moving environment they need critical thinkers. Herein, I will discuss

why this concept is important to the U.S. Army and how today’s Army is tackling the task of

building critical thinkers.

Why is Critical Thinking Important?

The Army of the last two decades has been engulfed in fighting an unconventional war in

two separate countries against an enemy that did not follow the rules. The intensity of the wars

has ebbed and flowed over time, but the asymmetric tactics of the enemy has remained the same.

The unfamiliar tactics of the enemy required our Army to adapt its techniques, which was more

focused on counter insurgency operations than large scale combat. This transition in warfare

tactics and techniques illustrates the need for combat leaders to think dynamically and critically.

Critical thinking spans strategic to tactical whereby strategic leaders need to use critical thinking
 3

skills to make broad adjustments to the overall strategy, and tactical leaders need to be able apply

critical thinking skills daily when engaged with an unpredictable enemy.

The tactical-level critical thinking skills must be reflexive – a trained, automatic reaction

to a stressful event – and reflective, which introduces the element of critical thinking (Burton,

2017). Burton, R. (2017) says that “a reflective process is necessary that is as rapid as its

reflexive counterpart and provides an individual decision making process” (p. 9). This must be a

trained skill and will take time to develop but must be the focus to make our current day leaders

more adaptable. Moreover, the time invested today in building critical thinking skills early will

set the stage for the critical thinkers at the strategic level of warfare.

Critical thinking is a paradigm shift for an organization like the Army that has performed

well throughout its history by operating through a chain of command that provided much of the

direction and resources to conduct combat operations. As our Army shifts from an Army

experienced with fighting a counter-insurgency war and to an Army more acquainted with large-

scale, ground-combat our need for a new strategic and tactical critical thinker is imperative. One

might suggest that we are just reverting back to the old method of battle and hence, will not need

the critical thinking. However, the battlefield of tomorrow will barely resemble the battlefields of

our forefathers as the ubiquitous use of new domains, namely cyber and space, will change the

way we operate, yet again. “Today perhaps more than ever before, success at the strategic level

will require leaders to operate outside their comfort zone… Successful strategic leaders will have

to remain committed to the development of other leaders within the profession” (Building

Critical Thinkers, 2011, para. 7).

 4

Leader Development

Developing leaders inside the Army is nothing new, but with the acknowledgement of the

need for critical thinking skills among leaders – young and old – it is time to relook our current

education systems and curricula to ensure we are postured for the future. Paul and Elder (2014)

said the “quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the

quality of our thought” and go on to say, “excellence in thought must be systematically

cultivated” (p. 2). The Army is now set to “systematically cultivate” critical thinking into our

organizational and educational framework. The Army executes education and training through

three domains – institutional, operational and self-developmental – and to be effective with

cultivating critical thinking learning, we must be active in each domain. The institutional domain

refers to the educational arm of the Army – Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) – and

owns the professional military education (PME) system. Every job in the Army has a unique

PME requirement and this is an obvious investment area. The Operational domain is considered

the larger part of the Army that is focused on building operational readiness for future warfare.

This domain owns much of the training requirement and time, and critical thinking scenarios

should be built in. Lastly and importantly, the self-developmental domain represents the Soldiers

personal time (outside of business hours) and the Army’s goal should be to influence Soldiers’

desire to be better critical thinkers and take initiative to self-educate. There are many details to

make this work, but the requirement to be better critical thinkers is here and the time to act is

now.

Conclusion

The future combat environment inside which our Army is expected to enter, engage an

enemy, and prevail is complex, ambiguous and fast-moving. It will take engaged, well educated,
 5

critical thinking leaders to lead formations both large and small for success. The education

process starts with every Soldier and every leader to identify the need for thinking expansion,

and to integrate new concepts and scenarios into training events. Concurrently, the Army

institution needs to actively revamp our professional military education curricula to include

critical thinking. General Dempsey (2011) said it best with this quote: “We owe it to the Army

and to the nation to “build a bench” of leaders for tomorrow who can operate at the highest levels

of our government” (para. 16). The building of that bench starts today.
 6

References

Building Critical Thinkers. (2011, February 1). Armed Forces Journal. Retrieved 17 February

2021, from http://armedforcesjournal.com/building-critical-thinkers/

Burton, R. J. (2017). Critical Thinking and SOF Decision Making. Special Warfare, April – June

2017, 8-11. https://www.soc.mil/swcs/SWmag/archive/SW3002/criticalThinking.pdf

George S. Patton Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved 17 February 2021 from

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/george_s_patton_106027

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2014). The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools (7th

ed.). Foundation for Critical Thinking.